Girls' Night Out
by Kenedy Ritzmann
Summary: For Sam and Vala shopping is not just exciting.  It's dangerous.
1. Chapter 1

Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter ran a brush through her short, bushy blonde hair and stepped back to admire the results in the hotel mirror. With a pink shirt & diamond tear-drop necklace, she looked ready for a much anticipated night of shopping.

Sam knocked on the door adjoining her room and Vala Mal Doran's.

"You ready?"

"Just a minute," was the reply. The door opened and Vala stepped into Sam's room, closing the door behind her with a resounding thud. "All ready. Where are we going?" Vala said, curiosity coloring her voice.

"Shopping." Despite questions, Sam didn't divulge their destination. Both she and Vala were in Washington D.C. for an astrophysics conference Sam was speaking at. She'd invited Vala along because the ex-smuggler seemed bored and, well, she'd exhibited good behavior lately. Sam also wanted to treat her to the joys of clothing stores and their last night in D.C. seemed as good a time as any.

-OoO-

Vala ran her fingers through the assorted necklaces displayed on the wall in front of her, contemplating which she should choose. They all cried out and begged her to take them home but she knew she didn't have enough money for that. And this was only the first shop. She wouldn't have money for anything else if she bought them all. But still…

She could see Sam at the jewelry counter, back turned; surely several of these necklaces would not be missed…

Vala reached out, already knowing where her prizes could be hidden on her person, but just as quickly she pulled her hand back and sighed. No, she had resolved to reform her ways. Stealing from this establishment was the exact opposite of that.

She resolutely selected a gold necklace with red rose beads and moved to Sam's side.

"Did you find something you liked?" Sam asked, fingering a silver ring. Vala huffed.

"They have too many wonderful, pretty things. How can they expect a girl to choose between them?"

Sam chuckled and put the ring back. "They hope you won't and will just buy them all."

Vala handed her necklace to the cashier, who smiled sympathetically, and turned back to gaze longingly at the necklaces again. Would one really be missed…?

She shook her head emphatically and turned her back again. No, Vala Mal Doran was turning over a new leaf. She had come so far already; would she really lose it all for a couple of trinkets?

She knew she could hide them well enough, that her friends would still trust her, but would she be deserving of that trust? Images of Daniel, Muscles, & Mitchell smiling at her and congratulating her on her reformation while inside she knew the truth, flashed through her mind. No, for once she would look them in the eye and not be a lie.

-OoO-

Two stores later and Sam was pleasantly surprised. Vala had bought something at every store, but resisted spending all her money in just one establishment. She had also kept a discreet eye on her friend and, as far as she could tell, Vala had not stolen anything.

She smiled slightly as she imagined Daniel's reaction to her report of Vala's activities when they got back to the SGC. He was probably worrying himself sick over her conduct in D.C. and would be relieved to know that Vala appeared to have forsaken her past ways.

"This would look _great_ on you." Vala said, holding up a blue dress with a splattering of sequins across the top for Sam to try on. And she was right, it _would_ look good. Sam scanned for a dressing room.

"Be right back."

-OoO-

An hour later both were contentedly sipping cokes and chewing on French fries at the mall's McDonald's, purchases stacked up neatly against the table.

"Well, this was fun." Vala said, taking a slurp from her cup. Sam smiled and dipped a fry in ketchup before responding.

"Yeah. It's been awhile since I was in a mall. I didn't realize how much I missed it."

"Do they have malls near the SGC?"

Sam nodded. "Not as big as this one though."

Vala licked the salt off her fingers and motioned to the surrounding expanse. "This is a wonderful place. They should have a mall on every world; it would increase trade and put those grumpy shopkeepers out of business."

"You don't suppose they were grumpy at you for a reason?"

Vala shrugged and picked up another fry. "I didn't rip _all_ of them off. Or borrow _all_ their merchandise."

Sam pursed her lips and shook her head. _No, not all of them._ She thought in amusement_. Just most of them._

At that moment her attention flickered to a pair of dark-skinned young men having an argument a couple of stores away. She frowned. It looked like it could get ugly. She looked around for a security guard but saw none.

"Wonder what their problem is?" Vala said, her voice muffled by the fries in her mouth.

"I don't know. But I hope they settle it soon…"

One of the men huffed and started to wander off, but the other grabbed his backpack and ripped it away. The first man turned around to reclaim it but the second one was already opening it.

Sam got to her feet, determined to keep this from escalating as Vala stood up too.

"Is that the bathroom?" She asked, pointing away from the men. Sam nodded and, as Vala hurried towards it, stepped towards the men.

"Is there a problem?" She asked, in her best "military commander" voice. The two men looked at her. The first yelped and tried to break away, the second finished opening the backpack and, before Sam's astonished eyes, pulled out an AK-47, pointing it directly at her.


	2. Chapter 2

Vala had just ducked inside, scanning for an empty stall, when she heard the sound of gunfire, followed a little later by screams. Instinctively she ducked, never minding the fact that the sounds came from outside the bathroom.

She quickly made her way back to the door and peeked out. The men that had been arguing were now armed, though one of them looked less than thrilled, and were motioning to all within their line of sight to get on the floor.

She saw Sam laying the floor, motionless, right near the men, and felt the blood pounding in her ears. Had the Colonel been shot? Was she dead? For a brief moment Vala felt anger rising in her chest, but it abated as she saw Sam slowly move to sit up. She was alive! She wasn't dead!

Now the question was…how on earth were those men going to be stopped?

-OoO-

Sam lay down on the floor with the other people, her logical mind immediately examining all possibilities. Everything about the men screamed "terrorist". She could only guess but, based on their accents and looks, she guessed Arab. Which meant this was a hostage situation.

Her eyes trailed towards the bathroom where she'd last seen Vala headed. She hoped Vala kept her head and stayed out of sight but she somehow doubted that would happen.

One of the men was fumbling with a cell-phone and uttered crisp words into it, in a language she couldn't understand, then slapped it shut. She had to do something & now was the time.

Sam slowly started to get to her feet.

"Get on the floor!"

She quickly raised her hands, staying in a crouched position. "I'm a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. I have connections and can help you in getting your demands met." String them along and act like she was helping. That was all she could do for the moment. "I'm pulling out some ID so you know I'm not lying."

She carefully reached into her back pocket and threw her identification at the two men. In the background she could hear more gunshots & yelling and realized there were more than just two men in the mall, which made sense, considering it was a big place & all.

The men examined her ID then threw it back and motioned for her to stand up.

"You will use your connections to get our leader released."

"I'll need to make a call."

The second man threw her his cell phone. "Be quick. No tricks or you die and so does everyone else."

Sweat made her hands sticky as she caught the phone and quickly dialed General Landry's office phone. She hoped he was there. _Pick up, pick up, pick up_. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Landry."

"General, it's Carter."

"Carter?" She could almost see his face break into a grin. "Enjoying your shopping trip?"

"I was, sir."

"Is something wrong?"

"You could say that."

-OoO-

Vala's lips thinned in concentration as she slowly worked the small knife out of the lining of her boot. No matter where she went she always liked to be prepared and, this time, it was a good thing.

There was an air duct grate above one of the stalls; the only thing stopping her from pulling it down was the screws holding it in place. Well, that soon wouldn't be a problem.

-OoO-

The moment Sam was off the phone Landry put in a call and within minutes a hostage rescue team was speeding towards the mall. There wasn't much they could do on the outside except cave to the captors' demands, but he knew _that_ was something the President most likely wouldn't agree too. Their ships that had Asgard Beaming Technology were not in the immediate area and therefore could be of no help.

-OoO-

The grate fell to the ground with a loud clatter and Vala held her breath, waiting for someone to come and investigate. Seconds ticked by and became minutes, she heard no footsteps and no shouts of "There's someone in the bathroom!" so she eventually relaxed and, using the stall door as a foot hold, hoisted herself up.

Her tolerance for dust was rather low and it didn't take much to send her into a sneezing fit, but Vala was determined to bring those guys down. And she had a plan. Sort of. She hoped. Most of it counted on her being able to find her way to the right store.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam could tell from the way they were fidgeting that the terrorists were getting antsy. Their compatriots had herded all other mall occupants to the food court and sealed off all entrances to the mall. She counted at least nine, probably more.

Most of her fellow hostages were huddled in groups, casting fearful glances at their captors. Sam hadn't seen Vala so she knew they hadn't captured her and, this meant Vala knew what was going on which meant: There might be hope of getting out of the situation yet without granting the terrorists' demands.

Sam could only sit back, watch for a break that would let her assault the guards, and wait for Vala to make her move.

-OoO-

Several dozen sneezes later, Vala was over what she thought, er, hoped, was the weapon's store she'd seen on their way to the food court. She carefully positioned herself and kicked at the grate, until it fell away.

She didn't know if anyone had heard that and she didn't want to wait and find out. The grate was over the counter which would make climbing back up relatively easy, and the gun she wanted was up on the display shelf. The cases were locked when the store was closed but, seeing as the lights were still on, Vala could only assume that the owner was one of those unfortunate hostages, and trust that he would forgive her later.

She didn't know what kind of gun it was, only knew that it looked deadly. She found some ammunition, shoved it into the duct & climbed back in. She didn't know how much time she had and that was usually a good reason to hurry.

-OoO-

The first man was now on the phone, yelling at the man on the other side, "I will begin shooting a hostage every ten minutes and continue until our leader is released and we are guaranteed safe passage out of here." Sam couldn't hear the reply but knew that, whoever it was, they were pleading for more time.

"The ten minutes start now." He said, pointing his weapon at her. He motioned for her to stand up and walk over a little ways so, she assumed, her blood wouldn't splatter on the other people nearby. A woman screamed and the second man yelled for her to shut up.

"I have a Lieutenant Colonel Carter of your Air Force. You now have 9 minutes and 46 seconds. I suggest you use them wisely." He flipped the phone shut. Sam bit her lip but other than that gave no outward sign of being nervous. She was frustrated; they wouldn't let her get near them, but she made herself appear to be calm and collected. She could only hope her "lack" of fear would help relax the hostages and their captors & keep someone from doing something stupid.

-OoO-

With a gun and box of bullets in tow, Vala found it hard to make good time. She fervently wished for a zat, they were so much easier to carry, and had to keep shoving her dusty hair out of her eyes. On top of that her nose was itching from the dust and she kept sneezing, making it hard to see where she was going.

Thus she almost missed the grate directly over the two people that seemed to be the most responsible for the situation she now found herself in.

"It's time." She heard one say. He dialed a number with one hand and with the other leveled his gun at Sam. _No…_

-OoO-

Sam straightened up and looked her executioner-to-be in the eye. He shifted & seemed slightly uncomfortable.

"You're making a mistake." _Keep them talking. Give Vala a chance to save you._ _Give _someone_ a chance to save you._

"No, your government is." The second man said, glaring at her. "They obviously care nothing for your lives…"

"They're trying their best." In reality Sam knew they would be stalling for time, not believing that the men would actually kill the hostages, but she didn't think the man in front of her needed to know that.

"You seem like a nice woman. It is too bad." The first one aimed his weapon dead-center at her chest. Sam took a deep breath. Her time had run out. _Funny how, after all the missions I've been on, the thing that gets me is in my own backyard. On planet Earth._

-OoO-

Vala cocked her weapon and lifted her feet over the grate.

-OoO-

Nobody except Vala was entirely sure what happened. One moment Sam was prepared to die marveling at ironies, the next moment there was a loud thump, a grate from the roof tumbled to the ground with an earth-shattering clatter, and a dusty figure fell from the ceiling, landing squarely on one of the men and gave his head a good whack with a gun.

Sam's training took over and she ducked as weapon's fire erupted over her head, shattering a large clay statue that resided in the food court. She rolled and kicked out, her feet sweeping a young man off his feet. Then she was up and driving a fist into his jaw and an elbow into his stomach. He was out before he knew what hit him. She grabbed his weapon and opened fire, forcing the terrorists to duck.

"Weapons on the floor! Hands on your head!" Sam yelled at them. There was a brief moment of hesitation, but it didn't take anyone long to realize that there was no way they could rush her without getting shot. The distance her captors had kept from her now worked to her advantage. There was the clatter of weapons & the raising of hands.

Vala wiped a filthy hand over her sweaty brow and leaned against her gun. One of the other hostages commandeered a weapon and hurried to open the doors, allowing the authorities waiting outside to come in.

Sam could feel the adrenaline she'd been running on for the past - she checked her watch - two hours slowly drain away leaving her feeling exhausted & drained. She gestured to their packages, still arranged neatly beside lukewarm cokes & cold fries.

"Ready to leave?" Vala nodded. Silently the women gathered up their packages and slipped out of the mall, their minds on hailing a taxi and getting back to the hotel as soon as possible.

-OoO-

Sam smiled ruefully as she thought of what she would say to Daniel tomorrow. She glanced at Vala who was impatiently attempting to get a taxi driver's attention and her smile grew wider. Whatever it was, she knew Daniel would be pleased to hear it.


End file.
